Faith, Hope, Love...the Greatest of these is Love

I finally have a few moments to sit down during my second round of VBS. As I reflected upon Mother Frangelico's chiding of my last VBS teaching, I thought how would I improve my next session, keeping with the program yet adding some of my 'love of life', so not to confuse the children. I really enjoyed reading their stories, and I know everyone here laughed because of the simplicity of the children, however, I would really feel bad if Father asked them about Noah and they told him that Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Granted, Joan of Ark is a fantastic Saint and showed us how to fight for God and God's Laws, and Noah showed us how to be obedient to God's will, they did not live at the same time.

So the next VBS teaching was on love - the greatest gift of God. How was I going to teach about love? Did the children really know what love was? I prayed about this for a week. I decided to go out on a limb again (this limb may be getting a bit thin) and decided to ask the children what they knew about love before I started the lesson. I thought this would be a great way for me to understand where they were coming from and help them understand God's love.

What happened was quite unexpected! Not only did my children participate, but also children from other classes. All the teachers compiled the answers for your review.



"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." `- Rebecca - age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." - Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." - Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." - Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." - Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." - Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" - Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." - Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." - Nikka - age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." - Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." - Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." - Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." - Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." - Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." - Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." - Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." - Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) - Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." - Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." - Jessica - age 8




I think we can learn a lot from some of these children! Their wisdom is beyond their years! What would happen if we took this wisdom to our work places? I think it would be a much happier world. What are your thoughts?

Sister-Sister Week

Mother Frangelico has been hounding me on finding some Order that I like. None of them have what I want - I want God's family - the Most Holy Trinity. Some Orders have a part of the Trinity, some have Mary, and some I'm not quite sure what they have.

Anyway - I've been searching and searching and searching on the internet (Mother Frangelico let me get on a couple times - but she's right beside me so I can't go to any cool sites *sigh*). I've been getting letters & emails from sisters asking me to come (some I'm not sure if they are sisters because they don't have any religious garb on at all nor any cross or medal). Mother Frangelico said I HAVE to go visit at least one of them. *sigh*

Mother gave me a link to a Convent she thought I might be interested in - Society for our Lady and the Most Holy Trinity. She said not only do they have the Most Holy Trinity, like I want, but they also have Our Holy Mother. I've contacted them and I'm going to visit them. I have to travel all the way to Texas (I think) - at least that's where the Mother House is located. Mother Frangelico is making the plans for me.

Now I have to pack. What do I take? Golf Clubs! I could take my golf clubs - there is a lot of open range in Texas - I bet I could hit those balls really hard! Maybe even hit a snake or two. Do you think I would kill the snake if I hit it with the golf ball? Would I have to go to confession for that - for killing a snake? Even though I really don't like them?

I know - I'll take my bathing suit! There's lots of ocean (well, Gulf, really) by Texas - I think they are located near Houston (??). I could go swimming! Much different than all of this dry, flat land here! Oh to be in the water again....it would feel so good. But what if boys look at me? Do I HAVE to tell them that I am going to be a nun? What if I don't tell them. awww....do I have to go to confession for THAT TOO???

Being a nun is NO FUN! No golfing! No bathing suits! What CAN we do????

Housekeeping

As I am Mother Superior (I'm not sure what Father's formal title would be in this case...Prior?), it falls on me to be in charge of certain "housekeeping" issues.

Firstly, although we are the Brothers and Sisters of Perpetual Discernment, we cannot call our Monastery by the same name. It's boring and inane...and long. We need to name our Monastery.

And so, Father, Sister Caprice, and Brother Brit, I am calling upon you to submit Monastery titles to me. And we can ask our public to do so as well. What do you think defines our way of life here? What are our goals? What spiritual things do we so admire? What type of Monastery name compliments our mission and our discernment?

So...please submit your entries below. We will vote of them as a community.

Secondly, our goal here is DISCERNMENT. Meaning we are discerning SOMETHING. Brother Brit is well on his way and still has to write of his experience with the Dominicans, and I think Sister Caprice can learn from him. But I think we need to be a bit pushier. I realize with all the recent drama she's a bit shell shocked, and quite indecisive, so we're going to aid her in making some sort of choice.

I'm sending her on either a Nun Run or to a Vocations Fair so that she can get some contact with different communities and different Sisters and different ways of life. Father, I know that you've been attending many Vocations fairs and conferences and the like...please take Sister with you on the next one. I'll work on finding a Nun Run for her.

That's all for now. I think small defined steps are more important than many big ones that go nowhere.